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tv   Tonight From Washington  CSPAN  November 12, 2012 8:30pm-11:00pm EST

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unspent that can go out and serve unserved america today. the same issue will be in front of us in 2013. that's what windstream's waiver is all about. is there other ways to think about this other than setting this $775 limit? beyond that, i think getting on to the model that we need going forward for universal service funding. the industry, put forth a model, but the fcc needs their own model which will drive calf too, that's where the energy needs to be put. that's where the biggest bang for the buck will be in the business because, remember, as we looked at these more than minor changes in the financials of the telephone companies
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across the country, it was so important that we do these two things coi understand didn'tly. -- coincidentally. we got out of sync, one down efficiently and fast. we just have to work the usf thing, and it's about the consumer. >> host: jeff gardner, president and ceo of the windstream corporation. he is also chairman this year of the u.s. telecom trade association. he's been our guest on "the communicators" along with paul barbagallo of bloomberg. gentlemen, thank you. >> guest: thank you.ñsr
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>> next, the interim america dialogue discusses the results of the november 6th elections and implications for latin america. panelists discuss the prospects for change with the obama add enrings' policies involving immigration, trade, drug policy, and economic cooperation. this is about an hour and ten minutes. >> this morning, we're going to have a conversation, a discussion, about the elections, november 6th elections in the united states, and what the results mean for u.s. relations and latin america, and the idea really is to have a good exchange and to engage everybody
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here to talk about what the significance of the outcome might be. we're going to start with the few opening remarks, and then invite, encourage you to share your insights about what the elections might mean. i'm joined this morning by three of my colleagues from the inter-american dialogue, peter hakim, the president emeritus and senior fellow at the dialogue who can talk about anything. [laughter] and will talk about anything. having to do with latin america, mesh towards latin america. also manual orozco who
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remittances and development and writes as an expert on immigration issues and will share thoughts about that and other questions, and margaret myers who directs the program on china and latin america. china is also going through añ&r transition, and also china's economy's extremely important for many latin american countries increasingly so, and she's going to share thoughts about what that relationship might look like. we're delighted to have margaret with us as realm. she just came back from about a month in china m i think we'll have some fresh perspective and insight about the situation there, and, obviously, people are increasingly interested in latin america, what's happening in china, and the united states, the two very important players.
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let begin with a few comments before turning it8/á#i to any colleagues and them opening it up to all of you. last april, the dialogue produced a policy report that reflected the analysis and recommendations of the members of the inter-american dialogue, and we talk about area opportunities in the areas of trade and energy and other global affairs that really should be taken advantage of by the united states moving forward, but we emphasized as well there were three issues that were on an old agenda that had not been resolvedded and stood in the way of a moreñ&r productive relationship between the united states and latin america, and these issues were drugs, cuba, and immigration. the first two issues were important at the summit of the
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americas, the report released right before the summer of americas, this year, and the first two issues were raised at the summit. the presidents gave a mandate to the organizations of the americas states to study the drug issue, and also the presidents made it clear that they would not be another summit or unlikely to be another summit unless there was cuban participation in the summit so those issues certainly were prominent, and i think the election results has interesting implications for all theseñhr -- three of these, and, perhaps,w3 the most important is the last one, immigration, which was not on the summit agenda, but i think it's now raised expectations that this may be a real opportunity, a moment, really, to pursue more serious reform on immigration systems, largely thanks to the very significant latino vote, the big
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story that's coming out of the election and how crucial it was nationally and especially in the real critical swing states which made the difference in the election. clearly, it's not the only issue that's important for latinos, but it's important that it has enormous symbolic meanings as well. i'm not sure why this was a great surprise to some. it seemed like it was pretty clear this was a trend that was long evident, and so people seem to be surprised and shocked that all the sudden the latino population, hispanic population is really playing a significantr role emphasizing enormous influence. that turnout in this election coupled with president obama's move on a sort of a dream act light and several months ago also makes one more hopeful that
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something may happen this time besides avoiding a miss call cliff, immigration reform is frequently mentioned as a high priority for the second term of the obama administration. it will not be easy. we all know that. this is not a slam dunk. it depends on dynamics within the republican party. there's a lot of opposition and resistance to that. we have to watch it closely. clearly, there seems to be more space and more of an opportunity to do something serious on this issue which we eluded to in the report then before. the second issue, cuba, it's also striking that i think president obama won almost half the cuban vote in florida and also won florida by more than 70 # ,000 votes, and which, i think, reveals that the politics within the community may be
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changing significantly. again, this probably shouldn't have come as a great surprise or shock to those following it, but it seems to have gotten a lot of attention. there may be more space to pursue more energetic policy of engagement and opening from the obama -- with cuba from the obama administration's point of view, i think, there's been important steps that were made with the lifting of restrictions on travel and remittances of cuban-americans making travel more flexible, but from the latin american perspective, there's a sense not much changed, and there's a hope that perhaps in the second term there may be more of a change moving forward. on the issue as well, we'd have to look carefully at the composition of the congress and pieces moving around. some new members of congress, some members of congress with important positions no longer homing them in the next couple of years, some a new senator
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from texas, a cuban-american. it will be critical in the whole issue, but a lot can be done even without congress. there's no great incentive for the obama administration to do anything dramatic on cuba, and, of course, one expects continued caution really following developments within cuba and see what happens with cuba unless there's further change in reform that would open up space for more engagement and steps forward. timely, on the drug issue, there's a mandate i mentioned at the oas, has and there have been former presidents who called for serious thinking of u.s. drug policy, and there's presidents making the statement clear at the meeting at the u.n. in
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september, and, of course, now we have very interesting results from two states here from washington state and from colorado, and in addition to the 17 or 18 that where marijuana is used for medicinal purposes and two states to be used for recreational purposes, and we have pressure from the region joined with pressure and trends and shift in public opinion within the united states, which i think contributes an adds to greater pressure on the administration at the national level to rethink its policy and drugs, clearly having a negative effect or perceived to having negative effects in terms of crime and violence and corruption in many countries in latin america. here, again, i think the obama administration would probably
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say that there's some things to move forward on the issue, talking about shared responsibility, but i think despite changes in the discourse, the elements of the policy have been pretty unchanged until now, but this, again, this opens some possibilities. the reaction in mexico will be critical where this goes, and president-elect will be here at the end of the month, and i'm sure this got attention in the mexican press and commentators, and i'm sure this will be raised and discussed with president obama when they are here. this is the situation. i think the results have had interesting implications for the u.s. policy and latin america 6789 there is an opportunity that was perhaps greater than we thought when we wrote the report
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in april to make progress on these issues, there's more space, a little bit more pressure, but it's smart to keep expectations in check, under control, and we still, president obama, i think, has been cautious with foreign policy, we have a divided government, and we have to take care of the fiscal cliff that's looming, and that's the first order of business. not making any predigses, but i think it's just useful to see where we are, and i think the election results do have implications for some of the concerns that we outlined in the report. i'll turn it over to peter, manuel, and margaret for their summary remarks. >> thank you. great introduction. let me start, and, in fact, i want to focus on the visit at the end of the month which will
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really be the first major opportunity to see the extent to which the election has had any keep of impact on the way the u.s. is thinking about latin america or the way that latin america thinks about the u.s.. it's an important meeting for both presidents k become somewhat routine now for the president-elect of mexico to come toñ&r the united states bee the inauguration. calderón did, and i don't remember back further, but -- >> [inaudible] >> i was too young then. [laughter] in any event, the visit, itself, opens up just a huge number of opportunities that probably existed before, i don't want to say they didn't exist before the
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election, but somehow, they have been heightened by the election, and the obvious one michael talked about was immigration and the fact that suddenly as one commentator on tv said over the week, you know, last week was a great week to be latino. suddenly, you know, that latinos were the center piece of commentary and all of the sudden it was respectable again in the republican party at least to talk about immigration policy and amnesty was no longer a nasty word. we're hearing committees are being formed. senator shyman and grahm coming
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together, and boehner used the term "comprehensive immigration reform," and so the prospects are better than they were certainly before the election, and they look better than they had. with regards to mexico, i personally don't think there's any issue that is more important for the quality of the relationship at this point. it's one of those issues that is behind sens, whatever issue one's talking about, you know, for many in mexico, not just u.s. immigration policy annoying and irritating, but offensive, the fence, the walling in, the way imgrants, largely mexican communities are talked about, and this would, if there is a
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policy shift in any major way, i think, would have an important impact. more as important, however, i think if one looks at the immigration issue, and i'm not going to go into details now, but it's also an economic issue. i mean, immigration and manuel will probably talk a little about that as well, but in other words, just the fact is that if you can bring 6 million mexicans out of the shadows and pried some legal status to them, they should earn more money and they will begin to play a larger role in the u.s. economy, and similarly, remittances to mexico, now $25 billion a year so immigration is tremendously
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and you know, it's the young immigrant population that's really changing the age profile of the labor force here of one that's much more productive than it ordinarily would be. some say that immigrants that social security system depends on immigrants here. what's happening at the same time in mexico issuddenly a huge attention to economic reform on a wide range of issues, but let's just take one, which is a particular interest, the energy issue. if mexico begins to open its oil exploitation, even the private sector, that would be a huge difference. mexico has the fourth largest
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quantity of shale deposits in the world. again, reform of the energy policy could open them, and what's interesting, and without going into detail, these were the issues, labor markets and energy excluded from nafta because they were politically impossible to deal with. now, all of the sudden, they may be possible to deal with which would have an enormous profound effect on economic relations between the two countries if progress was made on the two issues to the. let me say another thing on the marijuana issue and legalization in washington and colorado. the reaction from mexico was quick. the reaction was, you know, does mexico now have to change its
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policy why defend a border in trying to prevent importation of marijuana when, in fact, the u.s. legalized it in two states? it's legal there and we are sacrificing mexican lives to prevent it from getting there. i hope that he doesn't come with that attitude in mine, but the attitude that this legalization signifies a trend in the u.s. population, a change in cultural attitude in marijuana and drug policy and that it's an opportunity to open up a real conversation about where drug policy should head, a serious conversation where both sides examine their own policies, and i think it might be possible, again, another opening, that if
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mexico and other lat tip american countries, in fact, use this as a way to say, look, this is now the time. two of your states legalized, half the population in polls suggest it's time for legalization. let's open up the conversation for alternative approaches. in any event, i think we should all focus very hard on the visit, how preparations go, what is discussed, and where it's left. he takes office four days after the visit. thanks. >> thank you very much, peter. manuel. optimistic too? >> thank you, michael. of course. i think that there is a message and there is a question mark. the message is we told you to take migration seriously.
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something that's been coming up, and for the last three years, and there was disbelief by many, and now it's informed by the fact that basically 7.5% of the u.s. voter population voted for obama, of a particular ethnic group. we're talking about 12 million voters, 75% of which chose to vote for obama, and who considered the most important issue to them was immigration. there is a mandate. that mandate has now become validated by many people in the policymaking circle, and the political elites from both political parties, and a range of organizations, both immigration related as well as other groups, and there is to some extent, an alignment in the
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making. shifting interesting enough to the extent that polls show 65% of americans were willing to provide a pass to legalization for the migrants. at the same time, the white house, the obama administration has been making some changes, some initiatives to where some sort of immigration policy change, giving relief to some imgrants. now, the question mark is are we ready? the fact of the matter is that this population has been growing, not only in numbers,ñ&r but not only the debate, but the dream act, and they recognize the political capital was weak,
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that they didn't have enough financial resources to mobilize. there's in the making, among things with os in the u.s. coalescing over immigration reform is less now so what kind of reform, and so there is a consensus we're ready to talk. the issue is now what? it seems to some extent the baseline is the constant dream act that nothing below that will be negotiateble. what does it mean to lat tip america? where does it fit in in the equation? immigration policy fromñhr the country's perspective is an issue, and doesn't obtain to the relations, and the reality,
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however, is an issue, and there are considerations, and the united states has been conducting foreign policies relating to migration m one of the areas is development, for example, us-aid and departments have approaches relating to that development, that try to connect investment opportunities and latin america is one of them, the idea initiative, for example, is one of the initiatives. they also have the interamerica development bank to work on development issues. one of the conflicts is that there is a recognition in latin america is there seems to be alignment in immigration reform. what that means, there is an
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understanding of common interests over that. the second issue is that to some countries, mexico, for example, there's an opportunity for cooperation. of course, the question is not cooperation, on specific issues of migration, but over a language of other issues where we can talk, and here comes the third issue which is there is an opportunity to bring up agenda issues in the relationship between the u.s. and some of the mexico and central america countries. the issues may just have to deal with labor rights, migrant labor rights, human rights of migrants, but to do with development issue as well as ways to cooperate in the event of immigration reform that can have an effect on the legalization of immigrants in the united states. it may have to do also with dealing with some people on tps.
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for the most part, what there is a cop census on this, emerging both in the united states and latin america, that development today is far stronger than any other point in teem, and as peter said, those people who are legalized are more likely to remit more, to send more, not only in terms of remittances, but to invest back home. the more you are have in u.s. policy, the more likely you are to engage your home country, and so the process of legalization has an effect on strengthening development in lat tip -- latin america. there's another important issue with implications, and it may have an effect on the way that immigration reform might be considered. that is the fact that immigration in general changed significantly from what it was before in terms of hie number of
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migrants, and low skill migration. today, immigration is high skill, even at the level of the labor force working in the service industry. this change may represent an opportunity to engage governments in latin america and the u.s. over a strategy of cooperation for labor migration that's very managed. with a growing number people with higher skills prepare to my great, the amount of migrants with the high skill, training, the opportunity succeeds for integrating any type of considerations of reform. the whole idea of high skill. i think the main concern that remains is, obviously, one of numbers. when people think about immigration reform, you look at the fresh labor force, and the certain population groups. families as well as young immigrants. the population that is highly is
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one that has been in the united states for a longer period of time. immigration reform may have an adverse effect on this group. it is certain to consider what would be the implications of this group, but these are people who are more movable, they don't have health care and earn less and who have faced more difficulties in integrating in the u.s. opposed to the younger cohorts. i think those are the issues one can think of in terms of the implications in the meaning of the developments for latin america. thank you. ..
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will engage asia in coming months. there has been much reference in recent years to the idea the u.s.-china, lat america triangular relationship and i'm sure all of us here have heard talk of this. a bollard ministration in the way to legitimize this concept by means of its foreign policy focus, worse recognition of a specific century. u.s. officials have gone to great lengths to emphasize on the asia, but latin america is part of the specific strategy and i proposed the idea of
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origin partners had one and to advance goals on the other with the same the u.s. can establish in latin america that will help better engage asia and vice versa. one example of this cooperation is of course a pack with its latin american members. the ttp is another common example of broader specific cooperation commotions of course intended to promote a 21st century mechanism for trade cooperation among the countries of the pacific rim. two of the nine charter members are latin american countries peru and chile and of course we have mexico and canada better in the process of joining the negotiations. and then there are the various dialogs the u.s. constitution countries on issues related to latin america. the most prominent is the u.s.-china dialogue on latin america. but the u.s. discusses issues on latin america issues with south korea and with japan and
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increasingly they're smart base for discussion of asia and u.s. toxic latin american nations. but when considering this idea of a pacific century, pacific strategy or u.s.-china latin america relationship, there's a couple questions that come to mind. the first is whether the obama administration will continue this foreign policy towards the pacific and is my sense that lisa general consent enthusiast, the administration will continue to prioritize the data focused policies. the second is the extent to which latin america as a region really is factored in to the united states focus on the pacific. some countries in the region are certainly benefited from the trade arrangements that are tension, but what about the rest of the region? and never really seen much in the way of strategic integration and the western hemisphere in an
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effort to more fully and each asia? i think it is important to note that latin american countries certainly are waiting for the united states to engage the pacific to deepen relations across the pacific. we have the pacifico and play with mexico, chile, colombia and peru had a series of bilateral free-trade agreements between china and countries in the region, other country regions and a lot of recent cooperation between china, for example and regional organizations india has also been cooperating with the troika appears to latin america is very much pursuing its own pacific agenda in many cases. i'll conclude by saying that as michael mentioned, shortly following the u.s. election, china began its 18th party congress in a process of selecting its new leadership, which will be announced just
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this week. it seems evident or at least the opinion of scholars in the united states and china -- china's leadership transition is unlikely to have much of an effect on china's official foreign policy towards what america is pretty much on autopilot at the moment in based essentially on china's 2008 white paper on latin america and the caribbean and will continue to be based on that document. but this transition could affect other factors that influence china latin america relations. for example, proposed economic transformation china will be attempting to undertake in the next few years. state-owned enterprise operations, urbanization and industrialization plan and so on. said china's domestic developments obvious critical importance to its relations to the western to keep an.
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>> great. thank you very much, margaret. why don't we open it up now and just please tell us who you are and don't feel that you have to disguise your comment as a question. so we just want to get us any sort of out there. wait for the microphone, please. >> i am the panama. one thing i didn't hear mentioned and am very glad that it happened is in panama we don't have any immigrants. opportunity now for tomorrow and what happened in maryland is very significant. i don't even hear it mentioned here. that's a little bit of the tree and not. the fact that now, if your
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parents and you write your last two years of pace cool, but these guys, or the students came out of college in maryland and its trillion universities and in a tuition, that's a very, very good signal as a flagship of what is here to come. they are not asking. those immigrants are not asking first did we know most of them are not bad people. they are not asking for guests. they're asking for an opportunity. and if i think is a very, very good decision because it was bipartisan voting. it gave a great message and again from there, besides all the other things, that's going to be the flagship program msh. i know both governments, both parties in congress are going to
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get and it's going to take off from there. >> great. under question that should not. joss. >> thank you on on a jet shot at the peterson institute for international economics. first i should correct your mission there, michael. you as our latest and very new trading partner of the united states as a reads old at the entry into force of our bilateral free-trade agreement. >> sorry about that. i'll work on that. the presentations were asked to lie, but sounded like u.s. interest with the northern hemisphere and there was no mention of the ill and actually almost not mean about most of that america, certainly south of the equator. so i wonder if you could find some insight on the vocations of
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the election for broader u.s. policy, including u.s. economic policy with the rest of the america. >> sure. what we get one or two other questions in that will -- yes, please. >> i think i need to be more skeptical than many other people because we have heard a lot of similar statement. my question to michael and peter and manuel would eat, okay -- [inaudible] reelected president obama empowered latinas to do what? this question number one. this question is related to what is the political capital to
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latinos now have once president obama has been realized to and there won't be any more reelection. so for the many problems such president obama is facing, both internally and asked turnley, to what extent does the administration be committed to either immigration, policy reform, which are two big issues with latinas. >> thank you. why don't i have a try at these two and then i'm sure my colleagues will want to jump in. first of all, i would say two things and i know peter will want to talk about brazil, but i think, you know, i am always
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struck by how important immigration is for the whole region. i remember when president bush went to her quiet and not what the president of her quiet and there were two ratios that he talked about on the agenda. one was straight and the other is immigration. now one doesn't think immigration would be really essential turn for her quiet. i am struck by how important it is, not only for mexico, central america, caribbean, but even a country like berkeley. so i think frankly if there were a serious immigration reform, that really provides a very, very hopeful broader cooperation with much of south america. colombia, peru, important for remittance says are very
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significant as well. i think that's very, very important. the president said if talked about the drug issue, the foreign president and now santos and columbia made a very strong stand on this open for debate. so to any extent is any sign of changed, that's going to be embraced and welcomed enthusiastic here that may make one final comment on columbia because i think that's important. there's a piece process pursuing the talks in havana this week between the government. i think that there was some concern and columbia that if the results had been different, may have complicated some of those talks because they're taking place in havana and venezuela. also very active.
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certainly one -- president obama, romney said the national security threat, president obama had a very different view. and so, but that's one issue where i stand it is seen as being helpful and if there'd been a different result, and may have been more complicated. and i think you make a very good point, how much of these issues really matter. i'm not talking about the drug issue, but that i would agree on. i think that's going to be much for difficult. but it does seem to be sort of a coincidence. a lot of things coming together now on immigration and especially one factor we didn't
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talk about, but it's going to influence that if the u.s. economy. and consumer confidence and other things that seem to be if those the economy becomes stronger for any immigration reform. i think immigration seems to be occupying and legacy -- a bomb is like so forth. that i think that's on his mind. >> from the start but the second question if i can. also obama talked about immigration policy before the election. we talked about this being one of his signature issues and i'm not quite sure how anyone
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disempower, but in other words when people pay attention to you and the issues you want to promote, that is a form of empowerment and certainly the extent to which the price and the pundits in the newspapers have all paid attention to latinos in the past week as sort of an empowering not. the fact there are now groups of senators and congressmen talking about immigration i think is a change. we have the huge obstacles that still remain in skepticism is always in order, but you know, we still can go back and see when president bush was pushing very hard, when john mccain was pushing hard. ted kennedy was seeking a lead
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than immigration reform was defeated by 15 those in the senate or so. so i mean, there's no guarantee it will happen, but the discussion about future election in the growing from latino vote, et cetera, et cetera may be exaggerated. two years ago we were all the 19 are lots of the democrats were on the 19, the republicans were cheering and it looks like the country was going in the other direction. marriage has been defeated. so i wouldn't sort of also take these trends as written and concrete, but certainly they look favorable and a steel love that quote as i can't remember his name on one of the talk
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shows, it is a great week to be latino. on the rest of latin america, and i think what michael said his rate, but i also think that immigration means more for mexico and central america and the caribbean than it does for the other countries. it's important, but by and large i don't think the election changes very much the equation for south america or brazil. i was looking for some thing i could say msn says there is this sigh of relief in a lot of south america that romney didn't win, that there was sort of looking perhaps toward the searches tension, new strains and venezuela and renewal of the neocon attitude. but that is one of those hypotheticals. and indeed, romney made far more
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interesting proposal with latin america and obama did and you should be following this closely, you know, increasing trade with latin america, which means 30 deepening trade relations with the countries. the u.s. has free-trade agreements, the 11th countries and beyond that, to try and explore opportunities for destroying if not free-trade agreements, which would be very difficult with the countries to sort of find the ways to nonetheless expand trade. so when somebody's romney had much more interesting proposition , but it didn't win and i don't think that necessarily would easily transfer to an obama
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administration. i think your question is good. the answer is there's a very limited agenda in relations. and the agenda is strength and security. the secondary issue is migration and doesn't have much to do with pot american policy to the u.s. i think there might be an opportunity now, but i mean, drugs and security, immigration, trade and democracy. democracy you pay lipservice to it. there is actually not much of a policymaking after in the u.s. side of latin america. and i think the new administration may have an opportunity to broaden the agenda, maybe to learn from some possibilities for a change.
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but that's the reality. so the content of this discussion here presumed to immigration issues to a large extent because that is what is for latin america. it's also countries that brazil. every year we have 100,000 brazilians coming with non-immigrant visas. of these 3% here. there are over 600,000 in the u.s. which i think are important effect on the economy. we talk about $5 billion back home. but of course, you can't give explanations why immigration may be important, but the reality is we have a very limited agenda. if anything, one needs to be very proactive now to change this issue because as latinos
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told the two candidates that we need to take migration seriously, one didn't take it seriously, the other day. the same has to happen with latin america. as with latinos, 90% of latinos see the context of latin america is very. on the question of a thing is interesting, but how to empower people. beginning with the fact that the number of latino increases by 1% is a significant demonstration of empowerment. between 2007 in 2012 has been a growing change in the nature of latino organizing. they learn from the debate in congress that defeated an immigration reform bill is
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basically called frankenstein. part of it was because there is not a very well organized group of latino organizations. as a coalition not only among microprose, but latino groups, immigrant groups as well as other groups, including associations working. religious groups are the most important ally to the unions. the three most important groups right now that represent the political capital of the immigration reform movement and from that you're going to see a growing number of other groups that will come along in the process. so there's definitely empowerment. in the sense that more people
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registered to vote, more people voted. also, a clear message of what they were getting had been taken seriously. now, that is one of the sources of political capital. isn't the only one? no, there's greater conductivity and engagement with congress. members of congress. that's very important. also the local level. the cities and several united states cities are taking a more serious relationship with their community. it is not something that has to do only with latinos. we have a product dealing with emollients and other parts of the state, and they take these seriously. political capital changing.
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that doesn't mean we rock with salsa. it means that there has to be some accommodation and communication process that latino organizations were not very familiar with, but they have in the past five years learned how to adapt. >> not to keep talking about china, but the south america question is interesting and offers an important point of comparison. the u.s. is still by far the largest trade partner for the region and investor in the region. yet china now is the largest trade partner for chile. per by recently announced or brazil. and then you have the pacific alliance. through this countries in south america has emerged a certain extent from this perception in
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latin america that the u.s. had failed to work hard to integrate some countries into an agreement. so there is a real interesting dynamic and i would say, you know, the u.s. is still a critical player economically in south america, but the trend certainly is toward diversification. >> gray. thank you. yes, ambassador. >> thank you very much. margaret myers mentioned the transpacific partnership with the pacific alliance and the various trade groupings which are forming in the hemisphere. you mentioned, michael come and share introduction akiba and the summit of some countries are not going to attend pataki about
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being president. we have 2015, next summit and it's clear something has to be done at the summit process is going to fail and the climb without some fundamental addressing of these issues. so join in on those thoughts together, we left the city in 2001 with a social charter and fta. while it crashed and burned in 2005. the social charter was just approved on the general assembly a few months ago. the oas comal inter-american agenda has not addressed the economic investment climate. i am just looking forward to 2015 to the panama senate, which i see is absolutely crucial for the hemisphere. is there an appetite -- t. see any appetite to engage in
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economic integration in a serious manner? he spent a lot of time talking about integration, but bringing the agenda up a level to the more broader, hemispheric, how do we balance between economics and the more saw cited immigration,, social issues, drugs to some extent. so my question is basically, t. see any political will in the u.s. government to recapture the agenda which died in 2005? >> thank you. why don't we collect any other -- yes? >> thank you. i political counselor at the spanish embassy in washington. i had a question. i don't know that if we have to think about the implications of
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the rights and latino influence in politics, taken into account the vast majority of hispanics in the u.s. come from a very specific area, which is mexico, central america and the caribbean. i do not necessarily now, but the u.s. policy focused in a very special man or in this area. i think for instance is obvious, but it is they think one of the political viewpoints from a one of the biggest priorities in the western hemisphere. i know it's because spain and canada are very much involved with the u.s. security strategy. but the fact that there are so many hispanics in the u.s., which come from the region and only a small portion come from
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south america proper. i wonder if this is going to have an impact in the u.s. policy okasan in the specific region. and also, i saw that the person -- president depalma should push as a conversation, which is funny because they think they be the first in which a latin american leader has made a connection between the rights of hispanics with political issues. it's not immigration. it's a political issue. ..
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it doesn't seem to happen. whether it will be a turning point or not, just be very
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careful about that. again, much population are interested in other things. as you said, is not exactly everybody's he assumes it's sort of a politically mobilized with cuba. this is not something that high on minds of mexicans and other immigrants until the united states. there are other concerns. there is a i think a little bit of a some of the press that i read a little bit of this sort of over and anxious to connect this with the latin america policy. we've been talking a long time. it doesn't happen on november 6. it's been going forawhile. there was no evidence before the election if there was any that translated to a greater commitment to the latin america and the latino. i would be careful about that. it's a good point.
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on his comment, i'm a little bit -- i'll let my colleagues weigh in on that. i'm a little bit skeptical. i don't see great appetite for the push for integration. i don't think the politics are aligned very well right now. and either in the united states or latin america. that may be different in a couple of years. depending how the u.s. economy goes and some of the political trends in the region. but i just don't, you know, i don't see and, you know, peter mentioned romney's proposal, it may more agreeable in some ways. it was unclear what that meant, i think. and what the details were. i mean, it was sort of -- it sounded appealing and sounded nice, but, you know, there's a lot of very, very hard issues there are that under lying that and whether the u.s. is prepared to take the steps domestically in terms of protection for some u.s. industries, to sort of make
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that happen, i just don't see a lot the mu. right now. but i would be more skeptical. it may change in the next next couple of years depending how the economy goes. >> boy, that's always the complaint about campaigns either people don't make proposals or they don't give you the details. you really don't know what -- no, i think that in many respects, i think that there were no details to romney's suggestion on the trade issue with latin america, but how many details were there on anything that anybody suggested during the four months of campaigning? i think that was an interesting raising of the issue. he raised the question of north america energy integration, which was absent from the obama
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campaign. but on the whole, i think that michael is right in the sense that doesn't seem to be much eagerness here for any kind of new economic relationing, except perhaps with mexico mexican d.a., i recall -- canada the first choice for trade representative back in 2009, when he was first elected, decided not to take the job because he didn't thig would happen on trade. and we saw the ratification of colombia agreement and beyond that very little. we have negotiations on the transpacific partnership and but
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what michael was right on, there doesn't seem to be any great eagerness in lotted latin america for new trade agreement. wasn't doesn't seen brazil or argentina knocking at the u.s. door to somehow deepen their trade relations. so i think that if the americas depends on economic integration, allen, things don't look too good frankly. regarding the i thought part of your question was whether in fact the heavy migration from central america, mexico would shape the way we think about latin america in the sense that those areas would get a lot of attention and we would maybe move further away. we become more distant from
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south america. i think that, you know, that migration pattern follow trade patterns and they follow remittence patterns and lots of other patterns and, you know, geography plays a huge role in these issues, and not surprising that the u.s. has 11 trade agreements with latin american countries and eight of them indeed every country but cuba in the northern part of the latin america has a trade agreement. and only three out of ten have trade agreement in south america. geography is going play an important role, mexico is the big fish the elephant in the sense that two-thirds of all 6 our trade with latin america is with mexico.
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i think before you push forward, you will economic -- [inaudible] and initiative that may come out of the administration this week the economic assistance to latin america. might be as a way to compensate support in the past few years. open the second issue, the -- there is not coming from a few countries. 45% of imgrants in the u.s. are from mexico. thirty years ago it was 70%. the rest is coming from different parts of america incoming south america. in fact you mentioned trade. there was a strong correlation between trade and migration. the countries with the strongest
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by lateral and [inaudible] that includes colombia, ecuador, and countries that [inaudible] together south america provided for u.s. just alone there are everywhere in the u.s. so -- [laughter] >> we're everywhere. [laughter] so i think, you know, in terms of correlation with the issue there and one of the really important issues is related to labor rights. [inaudible] which are very protective. no compliance. no protection for labor for immigrants in the country. there's a complete disregard to
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the labor rights. obviously human rights is very much known in terms of the condition of gi my grants across the borders. there are other issues that in term with the relationship. and [inaudible] in the age where you see growing labor skill migration moving forward. it applied to everyone in latin america. [inaudible] >> thank you. a final word? >> sure. i would just agree there's no
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appetite in latin america or the u.s. for a push for economic integration and rather preference for by lateral gagment and i think the same can be said for china and other countries in asia. what is interesting. and i heard this in beijing. -- all the heads of state in latin america. they have something similar in africa and the caribbean. which -- china can corporate with the region as a whole and by lateral. not necessarily talk of economic engagement in particular. >> maybe they should hold it in panama. that would be the next of the americas.
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we'll be following the development on a lot on the website. if you look on the website we have a lot of commentary and articles about the election and continuing to talk about it. so thank you all very much. and enjoy the rest of veteran's day. thanks a lot. [applause] bono speaking to georgetown university about social movements. and later a colombia university conference looking at gender issues and the 2012 elections. i enjoy watching booktv and the rebroadcast of, you know, various television news
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programs. >> c-span coverage of with event and the sound byte and the editing you see in other programs and it gives me an opportunity consume the news information and make my own mind up about what is going on. senior activist bono visited georgetown university to talk about d -- promote human or viecialt tal well being. he's the cofounders of the product red campaign. take a portion of sales from the consumer goods to fight aids, tuberculosis, and hiv in
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africa. this is just under an hour. [applause] thank you very much. thank you, bryan. and gentleman in the world where that quality is not always on tap. a special man. we're thrilled, the band are thrilled they want me to say thank you to you also, bryan, because the band have committed, as you heard, to the idea that every school kid will have access to free music by if they need it. and so bryan has been helping us out with that along with the american island fund. and thanks, of course, especially to president who made me welcome here and dean thomas of the school of business. and jt right there, who is
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learning the cords of "sun i sunday bloody sunday" instead of doing his homework. all right, jt. [applause] you know, look at that. this is going to this is a spirit, and that is going change the world. you have it in here in this room. you feel it. what a room. [laughter] u2 has played some nice halls. i don't know if there is like a lek turn or a pull pretty. i feel oddly comfortable. it's a bit of a worry, isn't it? [laughter] so welcome to pop culture studies. 101. please take out your notebook. [laughter] today we're going discuss why
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rock stars should never ever be given the microphone at institutions of higher learning. you will receive no credits for taking this class! [laughter] not even street credit. it's too late for that. [laughter] i will of course be dropping the cultural reference to give the impression that i know what where you're generation is at. [laughter] i do not, i'm not sure where i'm at. and the first question in this class, might be what am i doing here? i could be down having any third pint. [laughter] [applause] [laughter] pop cultural references? rock star research. i heard an election night it was messy on the pint front. [laughter] isn't it amazing how three pints can make everything seem like victory but four or five and you
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just know you're about to taste defeat. [laughter] anyway, congratulations are in order. not just for, you know, for turning out in record numbers, and forgetting politics for a minute, but for electing an e extraordinary man as president. i think you have to say that whatever your political tradition. [applause] but also you are finally free from the tyranny of negative ads. can you bear nymph it by the end? can you imagine what it would be like if we did this for everything all the time. attack ads about tv shows? rivel smartphone companies, college admissions. [laughter] hello, we're georgetown, and we approve this message. [laughter] let me say a few words about
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some other fine schools you might be considering. uva, thomas jefferson, what have they done to you? syracuse, a school who's mascot is a fruit. [laughter] duke! hold it, duke, a school that worships the devil. [laughter] georgetown, you're in with the other guy! georgetown has god on the side. everyone knows god is a catholic, right. two words frank sin gnat that, that proves it. all right i've, managing out with politicians more than i should admit. i guess i don't get the ads and
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i don't understand politics in that form, actually. i would like to hear attack ads on things worth attacking. if there was an attack ad on malaria. i would get that. 3,000 people die everyday on malaria. that's an attack ad on mother to transmission of hiv ads i would get that. choose your enemies carefully, because they define you. make sure they are interesting enough. trust me, you'll spend a lot of time in the company. so let's pick a worthwhile enemy, shall we? how about all the obstacles to fulfilling human potential but the world's potential. i would suggest you the biggest obstacle in the right now is poverty so extreme it vandalizes human dignity. poverty so extreme it -- poverty so extreme it doubts how far we have traveled in our journey of equality. the journey that began with
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wilbur taking on slavery and will not end until misery. ablation, suffrage ads, human rights workers and social movements have always been powerful. but the subject of my speech for you tonight, is going to point out what is the transformative element about this moment and this generation and the chance that you have to rid the world of the obscenity of extreme poverty. and wouldn't that be a hell of a way to start the 21st century. the history department, might disagree with me. i only lasted a few weeks in college. [laughter] but i don't believe that the 192st century started in the year 2000 on january 1. for large parts of the world i think it started in 2011 with
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the upheavily of the arab spring. what happened? egypt what was that the pyramid, the traditional model of power got inverted. the people of the top got up ended and the base had the say. the arab spring is ongoing and messing and dangerously in some geography. what i'm talk abouting is bigger than egypt or any place else. it it's a massive shift. it's one of the moment in a hundred years, the real historians like those of georgetown will write about. the phenomena in the history books. the base of the pyramid, the 99% is taking more control. the institution that always governed our lives, church, state, mainstream media, music industry, are being by passed and weak end and seriously tested. people are holding them to account u.s. to account demanding that they be more
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open. more responsive. more effective or else here in the u.s., you have a tea party hammering big government. you had occupy to do the same to the gally rankers of wall street. social movement are competing. and we have to hope that the more enlightened ones will win the day. social movements like the one campaign. 3.2 million people at last count asking the world to pay attention to the least amongst us. the very poorest of the world's poor. and the many things we can do to help them. and i would like to describe, we'll see things are happening in the developing world. but think about this particular moment, not just facebook in the heat of tertiary square, the peaceful march across the world
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across the parched land and the dense rain forest of the congo. technology is transforming thicks. everything is speeding up. everything is opening up. now if i can talk about something i actually know about for a moment. this feeling reminds me a little bit maybe more than a little bit of the arrival of punk rod in the '70s. you see, the clash or the baffs of the rock and roll pyramid, and overnight gave the finger to the dreadful business, the top of the pyramid, it was called progressive rock. open sick songs. no good lyrics. [laughter] great reviews. [laughter] punk bands made no pretends of being better than the audience.
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they were the audience. if you. ed to play, grab a guitar. energy was in. the clash like a public service announcement with guitars. and they gave u12 2u2 that social act vifm could make as a musical rite. i like to point out that none of your professor, not a single one has ever drawn or likely to draw the connection between the arab spring and the clash. [laughter] [applause] just a little intermission. and okay. sharpen your pencils. i don't need to lecture you about change, change the air you breathe, you are it. i think change is your expectations but what might it mean for you when the pyramid
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and the whole lot else gets turned up on the head. what a huge opportunity that affords you if you're willing to see because there's not just one big lever of power anymore. there's millions of levers. you have a lot of them in your hands. when we press them together at the same time, that's when things really start happening. and but first, let me hit the brakes before some of you do. let's acknowledge that it's brutal out there. it's brutal out there. by there, i mean, here. and right near america. economy still on the rough shape and that slashing sound you hear, is a big per pair of scissors bearing down open the federal government, defense cut,
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foreign aid cut and all the cuts coming. if we drive over this fiscal cliff-so called. and cut they hurt. somebody bleeds. the cut alone would mean nearly 275,000 people won't get the aids treatment they need. resulting in over 60,000 deaths. current of a million more people become aids organ. you hear us in the campaign saying cuts shouldn't cost live. it shouldn't be a hard case to make. it is right now in. in the congress and senate maybe even here in the hall here, but i put it to you. we must not let this economic
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recession become a moral recession. that would be double cruelty. [applause] you know, it doesn't just take away your chances here at home. it might therefore take, by the way, your generation's shot at greatness in the world. the generation before you outlawed the idea of a color of your skin decided whether you could vote. if challenged the idea that your sex could decide your future. this generation has the chance to challenge the oob security of where you live deciding whether you live. [applause] the most vivid example of this for me was a clinic in rwanda in
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2003. two too skinny men and women. of men and women courage use enough to take an hiv test. the nurses knowing that a diagnose was a death sentence. there were no antiviral drugs in that clinic or any clinic in rwanda for that matter. looking in to the eyes of hopelessness, i was surprised to find no anger. no rage. it was a strange acquiesce sense not so the nurses the nurses who knew that it wasn't a killer disease in europe or america, they knew very different look in their eyes. about four or five years, same clinic, whole different scenario.
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nurses beaming with job satisfaction. death countses had become birth counts. maternal clinics what they were supposed to be in the first place. not just in a city but in a whole country who understood the united states had deep respect for their lives. and this was not the old paternalism. it was patch. without it partnership that is, without that partnership, rwanda would not have managed to get life-saving aids drugs to 91% it is of the people who needed them. good leadership as it happens, problems in rwanda with the leadership and other fronts. on this, they got the aids drugs to the people. provided by the united states. and it's a moving story. we are moved by such moving effect -- events. i'm probably hear because of such event. i'll tell you in in the one
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campaign our is not a soft lens. we try keep our outer cold. what can be evidence-based activists. can you believe that? the dryness of that term. i'm proud of the drinkness of it. evidence-based activist. yours truly. and i'm here to tell you that your heart is no the the most important thing. it helps. but your heart is not going solve the problems. if you're heart hasn't find a rime with your head. we're not begin to get anywhere. it's not charity that fires us at the one campaign or red. it's justice. that's what enflames us. and justice is a higher, tougher standard. it's hard work, i'm not going self-peddle it. we are meeting sometimes marketing, they are looking for simple lines, you know, just a $1 you can save a life. a minute of your time. it's crazy.
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it's not true. it's crap. in truth, if you want to turn the world right side up, it's not going take a minute or an hour or a day. it's going take your whole life. and i'm going make a example of that this evening to you. so that was the brakes. now for the gas. and for me, where it all started. it all started where humidity started and where our humanity is needed now. it's africa. you ask a good question why would you be listen to be me talk about africa. it doesn't do it much -- i'm, you know, this africa been an extraordinary adventure for me. africa, wild, magnificent
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magical, sometimes maddening of a cap. it's extraordinary. i realized the other day, i have been working for nelson mandela and arch bipshop for most of my life. through antiare pie tide to the fight against hunger to the fight for human rights. human rights, rights to live like a human. nelson and arch bishop there's no point in trying to turn them down. particularly archbishop. he told me he will personally see to it that i won't get in to heaven. [laughter] i think he might have that kind of pull. even if it weren't for them, i think i would have felt the pull to africa, because irish friends
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there brett and andrea, maybe irish -- [inaudible] has a living memory of fa fan men or coming out under colonialization. africa is the future and she from the future. [laughter] sorry. [laughter] well, you know, we're all interested in the future, and, you know, of the world will look 0 like for the kids. people say china is the future. if you ask the chinese, they're all headed to africa. the largest die -- by 205056 can's population will be twice the size of china. it's going to be big and young. 60% of africans are under 25. can you imagine that? all across the continent people are writing new rules for the
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game. african entrepreneur, civil society. you can see the impact in many ways. for example, 14 of the poorest countries, which doesn't benefit but debt get -- [inaudible] extreme poverty on track to had by 2050. child mortality halved already. school economic doubled. you want d.a.? i got data. [laughter] [applause] we used to asian tiger. for a minute we were talking about a celtic one, which was nice. but this is not an african tiger. this is a lion. it's a pride of lions. and lots of them are roaring. some of them are not.
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some are in a bad mood. injured, licking their wounds, we all know a wound in a lion is a dangerous thing. take mali, trace the origin of the blews blues and therefore rock and roll to mali. west africa. there was in january. the festival in the dessert and the dunes outside of tim buck too, and a month after we left, iraq known regionally -- took over the whole north of mali. and now the hotel that we stayed in small little hotel is a tribunal. and music is now against the law. i mean, they put you in to
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prison for playing music. you get beat for playing the blues. you get eaten to death on occasion for playing the blues. and mali is a case study for the whole of that vast of tap and savannah, [inaudible] nigeria which is an enormous country. in this agreeing geography, we get to see upclose what we call the three extremes. very dangerous in the holly trio. stronger than any chain and harder to break.
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so some of africa's rising, some of africa is stuck. the question is whether the rising pull the rest of africa up or whether the africa will weigh the continent down. which will will it be? the stakes aren't about this. imagine the last global recession, but without the economic growth of china and india. think about the last five years. rock star preaches capitalism. wow. [laughter] sometimes i hear myself, i just can't believe it. the commerce is real. that's what you're about here. it's real. a is just a stopgap. commerce, inteecialial capitalism take type out of
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poverty and aids. we know that. we need africa to become an economic power house. it's in our national security interest too. your national security interest too in particular. we want to see the region fulfill the potential. so security cue the drum roll. enter. [laughter] our protagonist. [laughter] enter the most powerful force for change on the continent. enter the strongest loudest, clearest voice for progress. enter the nerd. [laughter] [applause] [laughter] yes! i did say the nerd!
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i did say the nerd because it is the nerd the innovators, the programmers who are changing the game not only here in america, but even more in places like africa. which are more mobile than we are. africa is the second largest mobile market after asia. this is the era of the of afro nerd. what they are up to? up ending the pyramid. you know about social media and the role it played in the arab spring. i recently met [inaudible] heaviesed at the -- how it was narrow the gap between the politician and the individuals.
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you see, according whale technology is turbo charged social movements. this is the element i'm telling you about that defines your generation. and it works on lots of surfaces. for example, it is definitely true that the biggest killer of them all, bigger than malaria, bigger than aids, bigger than tv, probably bigger than all three combined the disease that kills the most people in the world, in the world's poor is corruption. we have the vaccine. we have the vaccine. it's called transparency. it's called daylight. sunlight, information, technology is increasing transparency, you see? now there might be some downsides to this like the fact that i'm on my holiday with my kid and wife and my son's behind
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turns up on the headline. i think bottoms up was the headline. [laughter] should have been rock button. that's what i would have said. but the upside is that if someone is up to no good in business or government it's getting harder for them to hide. north as well as south of the equator isn't as extraordinary that the two parties who are the most porptd -- important in the transaction we call development assistance ie aid. the taxpayer, give the money and the people who benefit from the must be are -- money are the two people who know the least about it. the two parties that know the least about it. that's mad. and it's going to change. biggest argument we hear against development assistance aids which remember, is a tiny
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fraction of the federal budget less than 1%. is that it's efficient. bureaucracy gets in the way. now everyone can see what is happening. the trajectory information technology is change enough more information. africa citizens are holding their governments and companies to account and uganda they're monitoring election with mobile phones and camera. in kenya they're using like ipaida bribe.com. east africa there's a initiative. yes we can. who knew? they are opening the book on government spending. they want to see transparency is driving down pharmaceutical prices and transform the
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industry. so people here know what i'm talking about. oil and mining. it's big. a lot of wealth in natural resources. down under the ground. the open data can get that wealthy aboveground to benefit the people who live over it. all of the i'm describing is a start. i'm not mentioning banking by phone or farmers. here's the catch, it's an obvious one. technology doesn't accomplish this on it's own. you can't drop a cell phone in the desert and create a o'way sis. there's no app for that yet. the crucial element is human element. numbering in the millions. and determined to stir things up. it's the human element that got us to a moment where an extra -- 50 million african children are going to school today because
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people in america and other countries got out and marched for debt consolation. same goes for the 6.2 million africans getting live-saving ads drugs because people in the u.s. really willing to stand up and shot and pay for that. those and other victories took not phones in the hand but bots open the ground. the boots of every day activists. in every town and city and college campuses like goring town. -- george down. that's what moves the movement. when people get out there real change happens. outside pressureed inside movement. the idea of red like the gateway drug to win. if you haven't time to put on the marching boots and buy some
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red. the ideaa movement out there when myself and bill gates is lobbying president or prime minister to get them to keep the commitment to the poorest of the poor. that politician is hearing it from thousands hundreds of thousands of people who agree with us. it's hard to ignore them than me. as persuasive as i am. ask the congressman who thought about it would look good on him. picking a fight with him he tried to block an important bill. didn't think his constituent thought it important. he's bombarded by e-mail and petitions and played a dirty trick. they were waiting for him when he came out of the church on sunday. he threw his hands in the air, i had no idea you felt so strongly. i'm sorry i now sport the bill. that's what we do.
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then, of course, there's the politicians that you don't have to lobby. i want to stand up and make a major shoutout for nancy pelosi, and senator peggy and norm. all of whole, all of whole -- [applause] not just great leadership, real deep personal commitment. and we should shout their names across the land. and i actually do not -- i can't consider the number of lives that have been transformed and saved by these people. and it must be millions. and people are alive because these people exist.
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jean is here tonight. these people are heros to me. this is civic duty. with the global citizens in mind, and actually, you know, if gork bush was here, and his daughter barbara is here, i know. i would kiss him on the lips. [laughter] i would give him an irish handshake. and, you know, it's incredible, it's incredible what george bush president bush's name is in the history book. his name in the -- greatest health crisis in 600 years. both sides working. bill clinton was here, -- i would get up and make a speech. explaining stuff. he's more of a rock star than
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i'll are ever be. i just want to thank bono. [applause] i want to thank bono for stepping away from the microphone. i knew he couldn't rhyme. i'm glad he can fall back on adding and subtracting. as you know -- [laughter] [applause] , i mean, the one campaign, it might be the one thing all of us can agree on. [laughter] and all of this happens without social media. can you imagine what you can accomplish turbo charged? the power of these two is the power of technology the leverage they give us if they're willing to use it. i think we're.
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i know we are. i know, you are. whether you join one or buy red or join in ngo, we work alongside, we need you engaged in this fight. it's the defining struggle of our age. and it's not just aid. just getting smarter and smarter. it's trade and investment. social enterprise. working with the citizens i are to help unlock their domestic resources so they can do it for themselves. think anyone in africa likes aid? come on. think anyone in ireland, germany. rebuild after the second world war. they'll take it though. anyway west it's not a right-left issue. it's a wrong-right america has been on the side what is right. when it comes down to it, this is ability keeping faith with the idea of america.
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because america is an id. ire slabbed a great country. it's not an idea. great britain is a great country. it's not an idea. that's how we see you around the world. one of the greatest idea in human history. right up there with crop rotation on the beatles album. the idea, the american idea, the idea. the idea is that you and me are created equal. and will ensure that an economic recession need not become an inequality recession. the dwhrad life is not meant to be endured but enjoyed. but the idea that dignity and justice leave it to us. we'll do the rest. this country was the first to claw the way out of darkness. and put it out on paper. and god love you for it, because these aren't just american idea
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anymore. you brought them in to the world. a wide world now. i know, americans say they have a bit of the world in them. but the thing is the world has a bit of america in it too. these truths, your truth, they're self-evident in us. so those people i've been talking about today, the poor they're not those people. they're not them. they're u.s. they're you, they may be separated from oceans and circumstance but they dream as you dream. they value what you value. there is no then. only us. it's universalism. there is no them. only us. i am because we are. there is no then only us.
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a largeness of spirit of who is your neighborhood. i'm not a -- my mother was a protestant and my father a catholic. he was of another order. [laughter] here's one i know. here's what i know and -- a soldier, all right and lying on a bed recovering from the wounds a con verdicts of the heart. he saw god's work. on a call to do god's work. not just in the church, everywhere. the art, the university, the new world. and once he knew about that, he couldn't unknow it. it changed him. it forced him out of bode and in to the world. and that's what i'm hoping happens here in georgetown here
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because when you truly accept that those children and some far off place with the same value of you. in god's ice or even just in your eyes then your life is forever changed. you see something that you can't unsee. we have a sense of it from the words of [inaudible] i have his words tattooed on my brain. a man who stooded in the square at the start of the 21st century. we're going to win because we don't understand politics. we are going to win because we don't play their dirty games. we're going to win because we don't have a political agenda. we're going win because the tears that come from our eyes actually come from our hearts. we're going win because we have dreams. we are going to win because we're willing to stand up for crimes.
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we are going to win because the power of the people is stronger than the people in power. thank you. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] [applause] thank you so much. [applause] okay. okay. kissing george bush on the lips is going to get me fired. my band -- bono agreed to take a few questions. so i'd ask that anyone with questions come to the mic in the
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center aisle, please. try to hold yourself to one question so they we can get in as many as possible in a few minutes. thank you. >> i'm a member of the class of 1999 and class of 2010. on behalf of the alumni. thank you for coming. before i ask my question, i before warn you, i used to stand on your strange and sing your song when i was a group called the phantom here. i work at the organization that cares about the same issues do you called united way and work, a lot of companies like bank of america and companies part of red. and a lot of time it feels like there's a lot of same people and companies at the table. like we're preaching to the choir. my question is whatted a vieps do you have for all of us to
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bring new people to the work and where should we go to find them? thanks. i was big fan of the phantom. your first two albums were great. then you sold out. [laughter] [applause] the company let me talk about red. red is i think we're going announce they have 200 million by this world aids day it's incredible. but a whole thing with red getting red partners was it had to work for them, you know. and if you take two companies car companies or drinks companies, we think that if if you if one becomes red and the other doesn't, people will choose the red one.
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so just signed up coca-cola, i said to -- and to the man i admire, i said to him, atd used to have coke ad life. now cow can say coke saves lives. if that works and they see a month, they're going to keep going back. and i'm sure that what it is with bryan i don't want to answer for them and bank of america. it's about values as well as value. and i think that there are this generation is very smart about their choices and they know they can play with the stock market, just by what company they support by by buying their stuff. that's powerful we call it conscious consumerism. if you are greedy and a company
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that is just on the attack ads. we'll buy somewhere else. it has to work. >> thank you for speaking with us. i'm a senior in the school of foreign service here at goring town. my sister is serving in the peace corp. in southwestern rwanda and living with three nones. to say yourself her biggest fan is an understatement. >> it is? [laughter] she had been taken caring of him. i wonder what [inaudible] you would speak to the [inaudible] or my sister either in words of encouragement or what would you say to him about his future?
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thanks to united states and leadership in this room and coalition with the liberal democrat are increasing their budget. it's amazing. and so i would say to the future child in jeopardy depending on if we can get more countries to follow the lead of the united states and just mentioned britain. it's not just enough to save the child's life, you want to make sure that child has an education. girl's education is the most. that's the, i mean, it's a course term that's the greatest return on insexment --
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investment. women transform the land scape of poverty quicker than men. it's not just a single, you know, globe health. it's agricultural making sure farmers can deal with difficult climatic conditions. you have seen what happened in, you know, around the world this year with the weather. it's terrifying. if you live in bangladesh not just in new york. so, you know, it's complicated. but i do think if you the president to happen, and speak to your generation across the world then he's going to have a great future. an entrepreneur on every street, in rwanda and ethiopia the president now passed away, he said to me, the farmers, you
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know, he said are the smartest people in our country. and i said why is that? he said because if they weren't, they would be dead. innovation and the smarts that is taken africans to survive difficult conditions, means that in the marketplace they are so sharp. if you have known struggle, you get god at survival. thank you. [inaudible] i want to congratulate you for giving one of the greatest motivational speeches ever. [laughter] [applause] my question is how do you think we can promote investment to
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promote economic growth and political change in africa? >>, i mean, this swufnt things maybe i could have spend longer on it. that was pretty long. and fide l cast -- it's the key. it really is the key is investment. and, you know, one of the things we're pleased with is that it's called the my less than yum challenge. it's an innovative attitude with aid. linking it with the fight of corruption and business-minded approaches to aids and therefore leveraging aids to create the environment for investment. ..
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that is vanishing. i know people who believe it is very important energy and should not be and it is not, in this case, a political issue.
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in europe and in america, they're going to make this outlandish opacity. you know, the opaque nature of these deals is corruption. when you publish what you pay, then the civil societies in those regions get to hold their governments to account. that is one the best things you can do to stimulate business and investments. thank you. [applause] >> hello, this issue is really close to my heart. how do we develop a global citizen's perspective and incentivize people to prioritize life outside of the u.s.?
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>> this sounds good. >> there is an amazing website. they just put on a concert in central park and they played. we have neil young, the black keys, a lot of people think, what? they are really pushing this idea. it is a jump in human consciousness. and i think that going to that website, i recommend it. >> good evening, i am vivien. i want to thank you for speaking candidly about africa.
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i am excited to sure about my continent of what is going on. maybe just thinking about the continent and the desert, and how this seems to be this single-story idea of what is going on in africa and i guess this is more of a personal question, but i am sort of asking what kind of advice do you have for young africans like myself who have access to a world of knowledge and want to be able to take that back without being condescending or without thinking that i know some who have gone to georgetown and i am going to think about how we can ease back into the african experience and this is people without being condescending, if that makes sense. >> yes, it makes a lot of sense. i look forward to meeting you when you are president of bolivia, which you clearly are going to be.
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[applause] condescending being the key word, not the condescending part, but partly what we do is raise the awareness. you know, we have to, when there is deep injustice we have to be careful about how we frame it. africa is a continent come as you have pointed out. it is so many countries. i was trying to say this tonight. you know, there is this roaring success in these terribly frustrating, awful, intractable conflicts. it is like this -- it's not like
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there's to africans, it is really quite difficult. when you meet very smart entrepreneurial africans, i really admire them. you know, you just have to be careful because it is very easy to caricature -- and this is complex. so i am not wanting to condescending you -- i look forward to the day when vivian will be holding this. i see the absurdity of it.
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[inaudible] i think we are all called to serve each other and the sense of common decency. africa is a country we pick on because the real issue we are dealing with his extreme poverty. it just so happens that a lot of it is fair. the wealth of the continent is such a stark contrast. i am absolutely sure that you are ramping up. you don't need any advice for me. [applause] >> thank you. >> i would like to ask everyone to keep your seats until the
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members until the guests have left. and the lecture ushers will release each row. >> medicine one last thing before we go? my favorite singer here is andrea with her husband brett. thank you. [applause] [applause] [cheers] >> tomorrow on "washington journal", author and correspondent ronald kessler looks at the fallout of the intelligence community after the resignation of david petraeus.
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and ways to break political gridlock in washington as negotiations over the fiscal cliff start between the president and congress. after that, foreign policy magazine senior editor benjamin popper on the global reaction to president obama's reelection and what is on the foreign policy agenda for the president. plus, your e-mails, phone calls, and tweets. "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> you're watching c-span2 weekdays featuring live coverage of u.s. senate. on weeknights, watch key public policy events and every weekend, the latest nonfiction authors and books on booktv. you can see past programs and and get our schedules at her website, and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> next, a discussion on gender issues. columbia professor patricia williams was joined by darlene
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never and salon.com rebecca traister. they talked about reproductive rights and pay equity. this is two hours and 10 minutes. [applause] >> we are very, very formalizes institute. [laughter] okay, i'm getting the sign. i am delighted to welcome you to the state of the union, gender, sexuality, and the 2012 election. this event is one of our events this year celebrating the 20th anniversary of the institute and we are delighted that you can all come out and that we can have our distinguished panel of guests. alondra nelson will introduce everyone and give everyone a
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proper elaboration of their wonderful work. basically, the institute is the center for fun i must research and teaching. this is an event that we will have on march 7 and march 8. so one of our distinguished guests, she was unable to make it this afternoon. unfortunately, she is sick, but we have patricia williams and melissa harris perry and i will introduce alondra nelson. i just want to thank everyone for all their hard work in organizing the event, as well as are many cosponsors. heyman center for the
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humanities, the institutes for research in african-american studies, department of history, the department of anthropology, the department of sociology and political science. london also in alondra nelson is the coeditor of technicolor, race, technology, and everyday life. she is the author of the prize-winning body and soul and the fight against medical discrimination, which at last count had won three major prizes from the american sociology association. she is also the author of the forthcoming the social life of dna, which will be available
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next year from the democrats. without further ado, i introducer. shannon. >> i am pleased to moderate the session. let me introduce our panel of speakers. seated next to me is reverend darlene nipper. she has had leadership positions in the government and corporate and nonprofit sectors, including the city government of washington tv and the national mental health association and the national alliance on mental illness where she served as a chief operating officer. she is an ordained minister and she most recently served in the
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community of washington. seated next to her is patricia williams, professor of law at kobe university and she writes the monthly diary of a mad law professor column. she is the author of several books, including most recently, a family friend, and the search for the rim of my own. which is a personal collection of stories and anecdotes and biographies. next to professor williams is rebecca tracer. many of you may recognize her from her many television appearances. she's the author of big girls don't cry, the election that changed everything for american women's. she writes about politics and gender and has contributed to the new york observer, "the new york times", vogue, and among many other publications. please join me in welcoming her this afternoon.
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[applause] thank you all for coming. several months ago as we were imagining this conversation, we thought that we might be having something of an elegy. we were prepared to have a depressing conversation and issues of gender equality and sexual equality in american society. we thought we might be having a rather depressing conversation. and yet, given the events of last week, we are here to have a celebration. it's a great thing that is a celebration about recent events. we will explore the contours of what is happening at the local level and national level and what has happened in last week it has had many of us on the edge of our seats. i think we want to consider the first question, why gender and sexuality was so important in this election cycle? whitest political consciousness
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and why are these issues essential? something about this moment that is about gender and sexual issues. >> i think it was in part because certain people kept putting their foot in their mouth. it was just so much more fun, to look back in retrospect. when you had todd akin and binders full of women and others, and the candidates who came before mitt romney was finally chosen. somewhere between herman cain and rick santorum.
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in retrospect, it is striking me as a type of ridiculousness. >> i think for the issues around sexual orientation, we have the last four years of the current president where these issues have already become almost regular issues in american households because the president and his administration were doing things that actually highlighted areas and our concerns from everything from domestic don't tell, even if people were thinking weren't thinking about gender identity, all of a sudden, this becomes, you know, commonplace to hear something about things like that or even a little bit about the issue of hate crimes and legislation back to the beginning of the administration. let's not forget that the president comes out personally
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and supports the freedom to marry for same-sex couples just a few months back. so for us, it makes sense but it's there. what's interesting about it is that the words were never spoken. there were a lot of discussions around it. are you upset that, you know, the word gay or, you know, it was already in the fabric of the household. >> i see a lot of what has happened as part of the larger narrative of the history of this country. and what happens when one of the reasons that gender and race and sexuality have been in play in this election and were simply 2008 when we elected our first black president and we had a
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woman running for the vice presidency, it's kind of the story of the civil rights movement, the women's movement, it opened a lot of doors for different group of people who previously did not have access to power. it takes a while. you just don't get the doors open and then suddenly, you know, you win. it is natural that these issues of new kinds of people -- candidates certainly having their issues voted on as voters, the kind of power that we saw among female voters, for instance. but that also accounts for what is called the war on women. that kind of progress, in fact, what had been the kind of power
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that i belonged exclusively for over 200 used white years white men in this country, it threatened -- i saw this is kind of -- this is the last among, certainly not the last, but the conversation around it -- voter suppression and women's rights were really -- they have only really started in the middle part of the last century. there was a story that we were part of, too. >> i will be as close to you from the guardian that gives us an insight into this. it is a way of thinking around the politics and putting into conversation the racial issues.
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and gender equality is part of the first african-american president. we have gone down in undesirable road and has not only brought out the hideous racism had mostly lay dormant, but is a desire to do progress towards gender equality and what concerns you as dismantling everything that we hold dear. a win for obama, she was writing this on tuesday, will mean a continuation and they were saying of the cultural and legislative trends we have witnessed in the last few years. i'm curious to hear what you think about that. [inaudible] politics trump gender and sexual orientation. darlene's response was actually more proactive and away.
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it has also been put in conversation with what we think this has to do with the election and gender and sexual politics are kind of in this larger context. >> i think it does. one of the things that is interesting about the president, coming out the freedom to marry or what seemed like the vice president accidentally coming out in a way. [laughter] but what's really to your point, while these things are very important and i think that they have a clear role in places like maryland where the marriage referendums on the ballot. the timing was the backlash
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about what i care about. and that happened early to get the, you know, what is going to happen when my one-man or support of lgt whites come out, how will this impact the election? there was an early test and we got a chance to get those issues out of the way so that they were not the things we were talking about. >> it was almost as though the last election was one in which barack obama and his very embodiment challenged about blacks and every time he referred to the single mother, they would blink and say oh,
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it's not a black single mother, to white single mother. and every time they talk about a father, it was a delayed response to some after they didn't know quite where to fit in. ultimately,, at the same time, there was a longer conversation with wes warriors what needs to be single mother who is not black and so i think there was a real wine. i was afraid there would be a backlash and all of us were feeling. they were putting forth the same effort they put forward for years. the prejudices and they never really re-examine what it would mean to reconsider those tropes
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in those slightly shifted things. and so when you had todd akin, we'll really have to think a lot about, is that religious religion, or is it really deep and historical sense of oneness? my own little theory is that it became until recently, people like strom thurmond, the fact that so many white men, historically in this country pulled themselves that they were not the product of race and so this invisibility of the product of race is not the product of
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the women who must've really wanted them. otherwise it is -- it is very clear that some parts operate at a distance. >> i would also, speaking to your question about whether this is about action or reaction, and of course, i think it is all part of this so that everything is constant in action and reaction -- one thing i want to point to, i think when we talk about these kind of race comments on the contraceptive comments are so outrageous over the past year, we think of it as a republican blood of stupidity. in fact, one of the interesting things is that it was prompted by unusual behavior on the part of the democrats.
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the democrats, while being the party of women, and about the time -- as soon as they started counting the gender gap, which really wasn't until 1980, they got labeled the mommy party. so for all of there being a party of women, they have kept silent on the issue of women's rights. and they have not uttered words like abortion very often. something happened, and i think it was in this particularly small cycle. it was a susan g. koman decision on planned parenthood -- outside of the presidential cycle. there is such a strong backlash that was visible to everybody that there is such a tremendous backlash on the side of planned parenthood and reproductive health. and also freedom.
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that something clicked. i'm not saying that's the only reason, but democrats are speaking very differently on these issues. people talking about abortion -- people were talking about a run amok. i had not seen that at a democratic convention in years and years. in part it was democrats coming on strong on these issues that prompted it. it was because within the debate context and the media context, it was prompted rights. democrats are being called to explain their views. that is what forced a lot of the comments that felt this incredible flood coming in. you know, this

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